You don’t tug on Superman’s cape. You don’t spit into the wind. You don’t pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger. And, as two educators have recently learned, it’s also generally good advice to avoid stomping on Jesus and the American flag in public schools.

The Florida Atlantic University instructor who asked students to step on the word “Jesus” has been placed on administrative leave on the same day that the high school teacher in South Carolina who stomped on an American flag in front of his students way back in December finally resigned.

The incident in South Carolina first flared up when Scott Compton, an honors English teacher at Chapin High School in Chapin, S.C., was placed on long-term administrative leave after he threw an American flag on the floor and stomped on it in front of his students.

Compton allegedly repeated the unpatriotic deed three times in one day. His goal, apparently, was to teach students that the flag is merely a symbolic piece of cloth.

Compton was already fired, reports The State, a regional newspaper. However, he had been fighting his termination until Friday, when he formally agreed to resign.

“Both Mr. Compton and the District agree that his resignation is at the best interest of everyone,” a joint press release announced.

At Florida Atlantic, communications instructor Deandre Poole is now on administrative leave after junior Ryan Rotela, a devout Mormon, was suspended from class because he complained about Poole’s Jesus-stomping assignment.

They paid the inevitable price for not bowing to the Christian Taliban / uber patriot crowd. I fully agree with the teachers, it was an interesting lesson that raised an interesting point about the way people obsessively worship things like flags.

And you don't see it as ironic that in "the land of the free" people are being punished for refusing to play the obsessive patriot? It has nothing to do with respect, and everything to do with the post 9-11 atmosphere in which people who aren't obsessively patriotic are treated with suspicion.

It's a sad day when "respect" for a character in a book and a scrap of material costs people their jobs. It's especially sad when those people are teachers who lost their jobs trying to teach their students to question the world around them. It's clear that ignorance is more important than education in some parts of America.

It's a sad day when "respect" for a character in a book and a scrap of material costs people their jobs. It's especially sad when those people are teachers who lost their jobs trying to teach their students to question the world around them. It's clear that ignorance is more important than education in some parts of America.

Teachers are meant to teach what's in the books not get their impressionable young students to "question the world around them". Teach the facts and leave your damn opinion out of it. Give children credit, they can learn for themselves what they do and do not want to believe in and what they do and do not want to respect.

Where I come from when some one is telling others what they should or shouldn't be doing we call that preaching. And I know how you guys feel about that.

Teachers are meant to teach what's in the books not get their impressionable young students to "question the world around them". Teach the facts and leave your damn opinion out of it. Give children credit, they can learn from themselves what they do and do not want to believe in and what they do and do not want to respect.

This.

If they want to express themselves, do it on their own time and dollar. They aren't there to teach their opinions about the world.

And you don't see it as ironic that in "the land of the free" people are being punished for refusing to play the obsessive patriot? It has nothing to do with respect, and everything to do with the post 9-11 atmosphere in which people who aren't obsessively patriotic are treated with suspicion.

Teachers are meant to teach what's in the books not get their impressionable young students to "question the world around them". Teach the facts and leave your damn opinion out of it. Give children credit, they can learn for themselves what they do and do not want to believe in and what they do and do not want to respect.

The 'ask the students to write Jesus on a piece of paper and then ask them to step on it' exercise was straight from the course textbook.

It is a great day when a college teacher gets called out and held accountable. He changed his story more then once, he claims he is getting all this support from the christian community and best of all it was great when he gets the tail end of it for complaining and suspending the student from class for violation of the code of conduct.

When you pull a stunt like he did and what the school did to try to get out of the mess, you get what you happens to you. It doesn't matter what BS you where trying to teach, the method was flawed and the message was also. Time to shoot the messenger.

They paid the inevitable price for not bowing to the Christian Taliban / uber patriot crowd. I fully agree with the teachers, it was an interesting lesson that raised an interesting point about the way people obsessively worship things like flags.

Yeah, let me just whip my dick out and wizz all over the 9/11 memorial! Then I'll take a massive dump on the tomb of the unknown soldier and spray graffiti on the Vietnam memorial!That'll show those neocon uberpatriotic Christian Taliban how not important their symbols are! FIGHT THE POWAH!

low level of nationalism or wrong kind of nationalism in armies are dangerous though,
Fort Hood shootings for example?
how are hell American Armies allow someone who doesn't loves America entering military services?

You don’t tug on Superman’s cape. You don’t spit into the wind. You don’t pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger. And, as two educators have recently learned, it’s also generally good advice to avoid stomping on Jesus and the American flag in public schools.

The Florida Atlantic University instructor who asked students to step on the word “Jesus” has been placed on administrative leave on the same day that the high school teacher in South Carolina who stomped on an American flag in front of his students way back in December finally resigned.

The incident in South Carolina first flared up when Scott Compton, an honors English teacher at Chapin High School in Chapin, S.C., was placed on long-term administrative leave after he threw an American flag on the floor and stomped on it in front of his students.

Compton allegedly repeated the unpatriotic deed three times in one day. His goal, apparently, was to teach students that the flag is merely a symbolic piece of cloth.

Compton was already fired, reports The State, a regional newspaper. However, he had been fighting his termination until Friday, when he formally agreed to resign.

“Both Mr. Compton and the District agree that his resignation is at the best interest of everyone,” a joint press release announced.

At Florida Atlantic, communications instructor Deandre Poole is now on administrative leave after junior Ryan Rotela, a devout Mormon, was suspended from class because he complained about Poole’s Jesus-stomping assignment.

The 'ask the students to write Jesus on a piece of paper and then ask them to step on it' exercise was straight from the course textbook.

While I don't have the textbook, I bet it was more like an exercise that was to demonstrate that words have no real power. I doubt the assignment instructions said to put a religious word on a piece of paper (or even specifically Jesus) and stomp on it. Do you know more about this assignment?

I would expect that the same response would happen if you put christianity, catholicism, or mormonism on the paper and stomped it. You are insulting people's religious beliefs and teaching your students that they don't have to respect the beliefs and values of others. The LAST thing this world needs is more religious intolerance.